How Taylor Swift Surpassed Beyoncé’s MTV VMAs Record

Taylor Swift is on a winning streak.

The "Blank Space" singer just surpassed Beyoncé as the winningest solo artist in the history of the MTV Video Music Awards.

During the 2024 MTV VMAs at New York's UBS Arena, Taylor notched seven Moon Persons to add to the 23 she already had in possession going into the Sept. 11 ceremony. (Click here for the complete list of winners and click here to see all the red carpet arrivals.)

The new hardware pushed Taylor to 30 total wins, topping the "Cuff It" artist's previous record of 26 wins as a solo artist, which includes the non-competitive Video Vanguard Award.

This also means Taylor and Beyoncé now tie as the record holder for most overall wins with 30 each. (Bey holds 26 as a solo artist, two with Destiny's Child and two as The Carters with husband Jay-Z.)

At this year's show, Taylor led the pack of nominees with 12 nods, including Video of the Year and Song of the Year for her Tortured Poets Department single "Fortnight" with Post Malone.

Meanwhile, Beyoncé racked up a total of three nominations, with her Cowboy Carter track "Texas Hold 'Em" facing off against Taylor—as well as works from Sabrina Carpenter, Kendrick Lamar, Jack Harlow and Teddy Swims—in the Song of the Year category.

And this year's ceremony is a notable one for both Taylor, 34, and Beyoncé, 43. After all, it falls 15 years after Kanye West crashed Taylor's award acceptance speech to proclaim that Beyoncé's “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" should have won the prize for Best Female Video over "You Belong With Me."

"Yo, Taylor," the rapper said after jumping onstage at the 2009 MTV VMAs and taking the microphone from the Fearless artist. "I’m really happy for you. Imma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time."

So, when the spotlight was on Beyoncé during her Video of the Year win at the end of the night, she invited Taylor to the stage to finish her interrupted speech.

"I remember being 17 years old, up for my first MTV award with Destiny's Child and it was one of the most exciting moments of my life," Beyoncé noted at the time. "So, I'd like Taylor to come out and have her moment."

Since then, the two performers have only continued to raise each other up. In fact, Beyoncé was on hand to personally congratulate Taylor during the Los Angeles premiere of her Eras Tour documentary in October, while the "Karma" singer flew to London a month later for the debut of Renaissance: A Film By Beyoncé.

"She’s the most precious gem of a person—warm and open and funny," Taylor said of the "Crazy in Love" hitmaker in a December Time interview. "And she’s such a great disrupter of music-industry norms. She taught every artist how to flip the table and challenge archaic business practices." 

And to see more scenes from the 2024 MTV VMAs, keep reading...

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